Newsstand: May 5, 2014

The Raptors lost game seven, so it's back to the real world for sports fans. Some news for the Monday-morning transition back to reality: Adam Vaughan is officially running for MP, the Walrus is hiring back some paid interns, and a meteor was spotted over the GTA.

Councillor Adam Vaughan (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina) has officially won the Liberal nomination to run for the parliamentary seat vacated by current Toronto mayoral candidate Olivia Chow, who left her position as MP for Trinity-Spadina to run in the municipal election. The riding has already seen some controversy: Liberal leader Justin Trudeau blocked two-time candidate Christine Innes from running, which many said was counter to Trudeau’s promise of open nomination proceedings. The by-election date has not been set.

After being forced to let go of all but two of its unpaid interns in March, the Walrus has announced that it will hire back three interns—no, make that “fellows”—on a paid basis. The funding is being provided by the Chawkers Foundation, and the fellows will be known as Chawkers Fellows. The move lends some credence to the argument that if editors have to choose between paying interns and having none, they will, where possible, choose to pay.

More good news for internship seekers: the federal government has announced a $40-million program that will help fund 3,000 new internships in “high-demand” fields. The program will be aimed at recent graduates in “science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and the skilled trades,” according to the Toronto Star, with a particular focus on skilled trades, health sciences, and, as Prime Minister Stephen Harper phrased it, “engineers of all kinds.” The move will hopefully help the estimated 300,000 people in Canada working unpaid internships, a full third of which are in Ontario. But many critics believe it’s not enough. There are no legal provisions against unpaid internships in the Criminal Code of Canada, and the program will, due to its focus, probably help men more than women. Meanwhile, women make up more than two-thirds of unpaid interns and most of them work in fields not covered by the new program, including public relations, advertising, media, and entertainment.

A meteor whizzed through the sky late Sunday afternoon. The Meteor Physics Group at Western University produced data estimating the meteor to be 50 to 100 centimetres wide. According to Western professor Peter Brown, if the meteor had shown up at night it would have “lit up the landscape, and people would have been talking about it as if it had been daylight.” While meteors approach and hit the earth frequently, it’s rare for it to happen in this area. According to Brown, only once every five to 10 years does a meteor come near the GTA.